How to Turn Your Hobby Into Your Career

Thứ bảy - 27/04/2024 00:20
It's been said that if you choose a job you love, you'll never work a day in your life. While this might be overstating things, it is true that you can find many ways to turn your hobby into a career. First, make sure you have some...
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It’s been said that if you choose a job you love, you’ll never work a day in your life. While this might be overstating things, it is true that you can find many ways to turn your hobby into a career. First, make sure you have some experience in the hobby field. Evaluate your options for transitioning to a hobby-centric career. Cut down on your spending so have you a financial cushion to fall back on before making the leap into your new career. Make sure you have all your bases covered with a sound business plan. Then, gradually spend more time on your new career and less time on your current career.

Method 1
Method 1 of 4:

Defining Your Goals

  1. Step 2 Obtain some expertise.
    Even if you’re passionate about your hobby, sometimes you need special training to ensure you can meet your full potential when you make that hobby your career. This special training depends on what sort of hobby you’re interested in.[3] [4]
    • If you’re interested in music, for instance, it might simply be an internship or apprenticeship at a record label.
    • If your hobby is making art, you might want to take some art classes at a local art institute or university to refine your craft.
    • If your hobby is rebuilding motorcycles, you might need to take a few classes at a technical or trade school to learn more about mechanics.
    • On the other hand, maybe all you need to do is spend more time with friends and colleagues who are also interested in the trade in order to get some pointers and feedback on how to perfect certain techniques or trade secrets within your hobby.
    EXPERT TIP
    Adrian Klaphaak, CPCC

    Adrian Klaphaak, CPCC

    Career Coach
    Adrian Klaphaak is a career coach and founder of A Path That Fits, a mindfulness-based boutique career and life coaching company in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is also an accredited Co-Active Professional Coach (CPCC). Klaphaak has used his training with the Coaches Training Institute, Hakomi Somatic Psychology, and Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS) to help thousands of people build successful careers and live more purposeful lives.
    Adrian Klaphaak, CPCC
    Adrian Klaphaak, CPCC
    Career Coach

    Spend as much time practicing your hobby as you can. Adrian Klaphaak, the founder of A Path That Fits, says: "As you get more involved in your hobby, like taking classes and attending different events, you'll start to come across opportunities that you wouldn't have found otherwise. You can also talk to people who have built successful careers out of the hobby that you share and ask them how they did it. It might take years to build a career, but the good news is, you can keep growing your hobby as a side hustle until it starts to show signs of supporting you financially."

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Method 2
Method 2 of 4:

Exploring Career Options

  1. Step 2 Help others in your hobby learn the business.
    If your previous or current career involved doing business – accounting, marketing, or some related field – you could use that experience to help others who are also pursuing a career in your hobby to run their own business more effectively. Or, instead of teaching them how to do it themselves, you could offer your services to someone working within your hobby field who is looking for an accountant, communications specialist, or a related professional position. In this way, you could make a living by consulting in your hobby-field.[11]
    • For instance, if you are a professional event planner, you could approach an up-and-coming artist and offer to help them host a gallery of their work.
    • If you own a delivery service and your hobby is baking, you could offer to deliver cupcakes or other baked goods for a local bakery.
    • If you are a graphic designer but you love playing music, you could shop your artistic talents to bands you love and offer to draft album art or fliers for their shows.
  2. Step 3 Write or speak about your hobby.
    If you have a lot of experience and information about your hobby, you may have arrived at some deep truths that others might benefit from understanding. For example, if your hobby is repair old cars, you might be able to write or speak in a compelling way about the virtues of patience, or how repairing cars taught you to consider multiple possibilities when trying to solve a problem. Others, even those who have no interest in car repair in itself, might be interested in hearing how you came to these realizations and think about how they could incorporate your insights into their own lives.[12] [13]
    • One low-cost way to reach a large audience for your speaking is to create videos and post them online to a platform like Vimeo or YouTube.
    • In addition, you might be able to write for other hobbyists who want to deepen and extend their knowledge of the hobby. Contact trade magazines and organizations associated with your hobby and inquire if they could use someone like you to write articles or present at upcoming conferences.
    • Write to the editor of publications related to your hobby and introduce yourself. Include information about your qualifications. Ask, “Would it be possible for me to write for your publication?”
    • If you’re interested in presenting a talk at a hobbyists’ conference, contact the organizers of the conference and provide information about your qualifications to speak. Ask the organizers, “How can I schedule a talk at the upcoming conference?”
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Method 3
Method 3 of 4:

Doing Business

  1. Step 5 Slowly increase commitments in your new career.
    After you’ve taken a week or so to get your feet wet in your potential new career, try to do it part-time for a longer period while still working your regular gig. This will give you time to perfect your wares (or services) and build a client base. You’ll also be able to iron out any kinks that might emerge in the course of developing your new career talents.[21]
    • After you’ve settled into a pattern, continue to increase commitment to your new career while decreasing your work-hours at your present career.
    EXPERT TIP

    "We live in an amazing time where nearly any hobby can be developed into a financially sustainable career."

    Adrian Klaphaak, CPCC

    Adrian Klaphaak, CPCC

    Career Coach
    Adrian Klaphaak is a career coach and founder of A Path That Fits, a mindfulness-based boutique career and life coaching company in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is also an accredited Co-Active Professional Coach (CPCC). Klaphaak has used his training with the Coaches Training Institute, Hakomi Somatic Psychology, and Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS) to help thousands of people build successful careers and live more purposeful lives.
    Adrian Klaphaak, CPCC
    Adrian Klaphaak, CPCC
    Career Coach
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Method 4
Method 4 of 4:

Adopting Positive Work Habits

  1. Step 2 Continue to innovate.
    Even if you manage to turn your hobby into a career, it’s a constant struggle to keep your product or service competitive. Think about new products you can offer, new services you can provide, and new ways to improve or enhance your existing products.[25]
    • For instance, instead of just offering whole pizzas at your pizzeria, offer pizza by the slice, pizza with a drink and fries as a combo, or rolled-up slices of pizza. Check other local pizzerias to see what sorts of pizza products they offer – then create something even better.
    • If the hobby you turned into a career is crafting small dolls, expand the line of dolls you have available. Try making dolls shaped like ducks, cats, pigs, and dogs. Create historical dolls from the Renaissance, or dolls dressed in the traditional garb of various nations around the world like Japan or France.
    • Consult with your business partners frequently in order to figure out ways to keep your career afloat. Customer feedback is also invaluable for identifying new product-creation opportunities. Ask both customers and business partners, “Do you have any ideas for new products that we should think about introducing?”
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